Defense Does It Again

January 19, 2004|By NATHAN TIDWELL JR. Daily Press

When the playoffs began, there was talk that for the first time in many seasons, offense would be the key to reaching the Super Bowl.

Green Bay's Brett Favre and New England's Tom Brady have quarterbacked Super Bowl winners. Tennessee's Steve McNair has been to a Super Bowl and was the NFL co-MVP with Indianapolis' Peyton Manning. Kansas City was the NFL's No. 2 offense, Seattle sixth, Denver seventh and St. Louis ninth.

No matter.

Defense was the order of the day in the conference championship games, with smothering performances by New England and Carolina.

Manning came into Sunday's game with eight touchdowns, no interceptions and a 156.9 passer rating in the playoffs. The Colts had not punted in their two games, in which they scored 41 points against Denver and 38 last Sunday against Kansas City.

Indianapolis was shut out in the first half. The Colts' Hunter Smith only punted once, but that was mainly due to Manning's four interceptions, three by the Patriots' Ty Law.

The Panthers' defense was more opportunistic than dominating, but got the job done just the same. Carolina intercepted Philadelphia's Donovan McNabb three times in three quarters, all by the unknown (before Sunday) Ricky Manning.

The Eagles were sacked six times and finished with just 152 passing yards.

ALMOST. On ESPN's "Sports Reporters", Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe predicted Peyton Manning would be sacked five times.

Ryan is an admitted basketball and baseball guy so we'll let him off the hook -- Manning was sacked four times.

GOOD MONTH. New England defensive end Jarvis Green, who had three of those sacks, played at LSU.

TOLD YOU SO. Maybe somewhere Keyshawn Johnson is smiling.

Sunday's line for Indianapolis' Marvin Harrison, whom Johnson derided during their Monday night game on Oct. 6 -- three catches, 19 yards, one lost fumble.

EARLY PREDICTION. Why go against the flow -- New England 21, Carolina 13.

UNDER THE RADAR. Has there been a Super Bowl quarterback less heralded than Carolina's Jake Delhomme?

Tom Brady with New England in Super Bowl XXXVI? At least he had replaced an injured Drew Bledsoe, which kept the spotlight on Brady.

Baltimore's Trent Dilfer in Super Bowl XXXV? The Ravens' defense was the main attraction, but Dilfer was a No. 6 overall pick.

You may have to go back to Super Bowl XVII with Miami's David Woodley, who was known for often being relieved by Don Strock.

PRESSURE IS ON. Andy Reid will be feeling it during the offseason.

With three consecutive championship game losses and the NFL's way of chipping away at good teams, there is a feeling that Philadelphia's window of opportunity is closing.

Since it's much easier to get rid of a coach than a star quarterback, Reid probably has one more season to get the Eagles to the Super Bowl.

THE FACTS. Regarding AFC-NFC Championship games:

* New England is 4-0 in AFC Championship games. The Colts, who won the first AFC Championship game, are 1-3.

* Carolina is 1-1 in NFC Championship games. Philadelphia is 1-3.

* Philadelphia is the first team since Dallas (1980-82 seasons) to lose three consecutive championship games. The Raiders lost three consecutive AFC Championship games following the 1973-75 seasons. The Rams lost three consecutive NFC Championship games following the 1974-76 seasons.

* Dallas has the most championship game appearances with 14, followed by San Francisco (12), Pittsburgh (11) and the Raiders (11).

* The Raiders made five consecutive AFC Championship game appearances (1973-77 seasons), winning one. Dallas has made four consecutive NFC Championship game appearances twice. The Cowboys made the title game following the 1970-73 seasons, winning twice, and again following the 1992-95 seasons, winning three times.

OPPOSITES. You never know where the stars are going to come from.

New England's Ty Law is a nine-year veteran, a first-round draft pick with 35 regular-season interceptions.

Carolina's Ricky Manning is a rookie, a third-round selection who had three interceptions this season.

MAKES SENSE. It's no coincidence that on the day of the NFL's conference championship games, the schedules were light in the NBA and men's college basketball.

THE PINNACLE. If you watched the Wake Forest-Duke and Connecticut-North Carolina games Saturday, it's hard to argue that there are better atmospheres for college basketball.

TIME HAS COME. The Pittsburgh Panthers are 18-0 but have played just two road games, one against crosstown opponent Duquesne.

We'll see what the Panthers are made of this week with games tonight at Connecticut and Saturday at Syracuse.

ON CUE. Florida State, whose 10-0 start included wins over Georgetown, Ky., Nicholls State and Wagner, has lost four straight and five of its last seven after the Seminoles' defeat to Virginia Sunday.

LONE STAR. When the Los Angeles Lakers' Gary Payton mentioned a week or so ago that he "didn't sign up for this," was he talking about a starting lineup that included Stanislav Medvedenko, Kareem Rush and Jamal Sampson?

IN WAITING. New York Knicks boss Isiah Thomas may not want to coach the team but don't rule out Thomas' former Detroit Pistons teammate Mark Aguirre, who was hired as one of Lenny Wilkens' assistants.

WEEKEND WINNER. The Anaheim Mighty Ducks, last season's Stanley Cup runner-up, who hadn't won in January until Saturday's victory over the Vancouver Canucks.

WEEKEND LOSER. Scott Hoch, Notah Begay III, Matt Kuchar and the other golfers who, fair or not, will have to explain how they shot worse at the Sony Open than Michelle Wie.

THIS WEEK'S LIST. The cities that have hosted the most Super Bowls.

Super Bowl XXXVIII will be in Houston, Jacksonville, Fla., will host Super Bowl XXXIX, and Super Bowl XL will be in Detroit.